The Noahide Path

Nearly twenty-four hundred years ago the prophet Zephaniah foresaw that in the end of days God will “turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of God, to serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9).

Can we today see any signs of a pathway of devotion that has the potential to encompass and unify all the peoples of the world in God’s service? A possible candidate to develop and spread the pursuit of such a pathway could be the emerging “Noahide” movement.

The Noahide movement is based upon the premise that all humanity are descendants or “children” of the Biblical Noah, who having been saved from the flood was bound by God’s Covenant to observe seven universal laws. The Talmud teaches that six of these laws were originally given to Adam: 1. Do not worship idols (intermediaries between man and the One God). 2. Do not blaspheme. 3. Do not kill. 4. Do not commit adultery. 5. Do not steal. 6. Establish courts of justice. After the flood, a seventh law was given to Noah: 7. Do not eat a limb torn from a living animal. These seven laws and their many ramifications constitute the universal Noahide Code (Genesis 2:16; 9:1-17; Talmud Sanhedrin 56a-b).

The renowned rabbinic sage and philosopher, Rabbi Moses Maimonides (“Rambam” 1135-1204) writes in his comprehensive code of Torah law that the 613 commandments contained in the Five Books of Moses apply only to the people of Israel and Moses was not required to bring all humanity to embrace them. However, Moses was commanded to bring all humanity under the sway of the seven Noahide laws, and all who embrace and carefully observe them are counted among the righteous of the nations of the world and have a share in the world to come, on condition that they do so because God so commanded the Children of Noah and not because they seem reasonable to the human mind (Laws of Kings 8:10-11).

Can the Noahide pathway of observance of these laws be called a religion in the conventional sense? It is noteworthy that with the exception of the law to establish courts of justice, all of the other laws are negative prohibitions. They set the boundaries between what is acceptable human behavior and what is unacceptable, but they do not positively prescribe specific acts of worship and service that people may perform in order to make their connection with God. This is in marked contrast to the Torah code that applies to the people of Israel, which prescribes highly specific observances including regular prayer, Sabbath, festivals, dietary practices, kindness, charity and the whole apparatus of the halachah (detailed practical laws) relating to family life, work, business, property, damages, life cycle etc.

While laws 3-7 in the Noahide law code set fundamental boundaries to interactions among humans or with other species, only laws 1 and 2 relate directly to religion and faith. It is because there is One God Who rules over all creation that it is forbidden to worship any subordinate power as an independent god (idol); and likewise it is forbidden to disparage the names with which we call upon the One God. However, until very recently there has been little discussion among Jewish rabbinic authorities on the Noahide code about positive pathways of prayer and devotion for gentiles.

This is probably because the destruction of the Jews’ Second Temple in the year 68 C.E. was followed by nearly two thousand of years of Jewish exile in what became the Christian and Moslem lands, where their gentile neighbors already had or were developing their own established religions. Few gentiles were interested in what Judaism might teach about a “third way” that could transcend ethnic and cultural boundaries and become truly universal.

It was only from the 1700’s when “enlightenment” thinkers rejected traditional faith and belief that the concept of a “natural” universal religion gained ground. The 1723 “Anderson” Constitutions of Freemasonry stated that Masons can be of any faith and need only adhere to the religion in which all men agree, while the revised 1738 Constitutions state that “A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noahide”.

There is no evidence that Freemasonry has publicly promoted a Noahide pathway for all people, and the Freemasons’ internal activities remain for the most part unknown by uninitiated outsiders.

The modern Noahide movement was reborn by the Moroccan-born Italian Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh (1822-1900), a Kabbalist, philosopher and liberal scholar whose major work, “Israel and Humanity”, summarized his thinking on the topic following correspondence with Aime Palliere (1875-1949), a Catholic who desired to convert to Judaism but whom Rabbi Benamozegh convinced to commit to Noahism. In our times, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch chassidic movement (1902-1992), encouraged his followers to promote observance of the Noahide laws amongst gentiles.

In recent decades a loose and somewhat splintered yet extensive movement has appeared across North America and in many other parts of the world known as the Bney Noah (Children of Noah) in which small groups have begun to organize communities, networks, discussion forums, conferences and the like in order to explore and observe the Noahide code.

From the rabbinic point of view, there is no inconsistency between gentiles embracing the Noahide laws and continuing to practice their own religion of upbringing or choice as long as it is free of idolatry. Yet many members of the Bney Noah movement have been in flight from existing religious establishments and aspire to build a distinctively Noahide community with appropriate forms of individual and collective prayer and devotion.

In 2004 a New Sanhedrin of rabbis was established in Jerusalem under the presidency of the world-renowned scholar, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, and has a division in charge of Jewish-Gentile relations that among other activities has heard oaths of allegiance to the Noahide code by delegations of gentiles including Christians and Moslems. The Sanhedrin’s Vice Chancellor, Rabbi Joel Schwartz, has written extensively about the Noahide code and has composed a prayer book for those seek a specifically Noahide devotional pathway. An English language version of this prayer book is “Service from the Heart: Renewing the Ancient Path of Biblical Prayer and Service” published by the Oklahoma B’nai Noah Society (2007).

Those who embrace the Noahide code while wishing to remain within their existing religious framework may feel little need for a specifically Noahide devotional pathway. This may be of much greater interest to those exploring interdenominational forms of prayer. There are also many across the world who are unsatisfied by the religious life to which they have been exposed and who seek more universal forms of religious expression.

It will likely be a difficult task to draft a universal Noahide rite that will be meaningful to all and free of anything that some may find offensive. It will indeed need to be phrased in the “pure language” of which Zephaniah prophesied when “all will call upon the name of God to serve Him with one accord”.

Perhaps one of the best sources of Jewish rabbinical guidance for Noahides in developing their own meditations and prayers will prove to be the outstanding Chassidic luminary, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), whose pathway stresses the importance of each one’s personal prayers in his or her own language:

“Set aside time each day to meditate and pray alone in a room or some meadow and express your innermost thoughts and feelings and personal prayers to God. Use every kind of appeal and argument. Use words that will endear you to God and win His favor. Plead with God to draw you closer and let you truly serve Him. You should hold these conversations in whatever language you speak best. You should tell God everything you feel, be it contrition and longing to repent over the past or requests and supplications to come truly close to God from now on, each person according to his level. Be very careful to get into the habit of spending time every day on your personal prayers and meditation. Fix a regular time for this and then be happy for the rest of the day…” (Likutey Moharan II:25).

As more and more people cultivate the art of regular personal prayer and devotion, the next step will be to join together for collective prayers in small or large groups and workshops, where talented lyricists, composers, narrators, rappers and other individuals may help us develop new forms of devotions with which we can all turn to God together as human beings here on earth.